FITCHBURG -- As Fitchburg State University President Richard Lapidus is officially inaugurated this week, the school's 11th president has three topics on his mind: enrollment, curriculum and community.

His formal installation Thursday, at 2 p.m., will occur almost 16 months after Lapidus, the former California Polytechnic University dean, took the helm in July 2015.

During that period between the assumption of the position and inauguration -- a delay that is customary in academia -- Lapidus has set, and started taking steps toward, several long-term goals for the university.

So while his installation is the centerpiece of a weeklong schedule of events at the university, the event isn't about him, Lapidus said.

The inauguration of FSU President Richard Lapidus is Thursday, but a whole week full of activities is planned.
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It's about the university.

"I think that university tradition really suggests that this is a celebration of the university," he said. "It's an opportunity to go back in time, recount a little bit of history, recount the high points or milestones and then chart a course, a little bit, for the future."

Under former President Robert Antonucci, the university underwent a series of improvements to its facilities. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Alberto Cardelle, who started at the university in July of this year, said the next step is to strengthen the university's academics and curriculum, and to make Fitchburg State a first-choice option for prospective students.

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"I think the direction, moving forward, is a continuous strengthening of the academic mission," he said.

Attracting students to the school and tweaking the curriculum comes with another consideration -- the surrounding community, Lapidus said.

"The university is a large player in the city and the region, so we have a responsibility to act as such," he said.

Lapidus said he has a good relationship with Fitchburg Mayor Stephen DiNatale and is examining how to strengthen the town-gown relationship.

Increased collaboration could be mutually beneficial, he said. The town is a "laboratory" for students to gain real-world work experience, while the university can act as an economic driver in the city.

"The university can certainly help to provide some expertise and some thinking and economic development for the city," he said. "We have people from all over this campus sitting on working groups in the city, thinking about everything from road configuration to helping to recruit businesses into the city and everything in between."

He said students have also expressed interest in a revitalized downtown, and the university is looking into the possibility of expanding its footprint into Main Street.

"The downtown in Fitchburg has a good set of bones," Lapidus said. "I think the Main Street and surrounding areas have character. They just need to be rethought. We need to figure out how we can stimulate interest in the downtown."

Attracting and retaining students is another ongoing goal Lapidus hopes to tackle during his tenure.

The university already saw returns on those efforts when it welcomed the second-largest incoming class in the school's history last month.

Lapidus credits staff as well as new recruiting and customer-relations management software for the more than 1,000 new first-year and transfer students that arrived at the school this fall. Targeting prospective students' interests, and speaking to them individually, are also keys to improvement in that area, he said.

"We need to do a better job of understanding their interests, and then talk to them specifically about how they might meet their needs," he said.

The university is working toward catering to currently underserved populations, such as the local Latino community, Massachusetts' growing African-American population and veterans, Lapidus said.

Since Lapidus started at the university, Fitchburg State has opened a veterans center on campus and received a Military Friendly School designation from Victory Media.

Cardelle said the university is dedicated to diversifying the school's student body. According to The College Board, the student population is 73 percent white and 11 percent Hispanic or Latino.

Lapidus said diversity -- referring to race as well as other types, such as sexual orientation -- is not simply determined by the numbers. The school hopes to find ways to take advantage of the benefits that come from diversity, he said.

"Counting is one thing, but finding ways to communicate with one another and learn about each other's positions is really what the role of the university should be," he said.

Shifting the curriculum is another way the university could better meet the students' or state's needs.

"Are there programs which need enhancing? Are their programs in which there is state need that we are not meeting?" he said.

While the curriculum is generally determined by faculty, Lapidus said he sees himself as a "facilitator" who can talk to industries, share the university's expertise and get a better idea of fields' future directions.

The Computer Science Department is considering expanding its cybersecurity offerings, and the Nursing program is looking into providing allied health programs, he said.

But shifting the curriculum, like the other goals, takes time.

"These are all long-term goals," Lapidus said. "It's a matter of working on them, fine-tuning, shifting course when things don't work, finding resources to put new programs into place to accomplish these very things," he said. "We're in it for the long slog."

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